It’s not crazy to think that Apple should’ve injected its extensive Find My Network for lost devices into the Siri Remote. (It is, after all, annoyingly easy to lose between the couch cushions). But the company didn’t, so Elago went ahead and created the Remote R5 case — equipped with a slot for an AirTag.

The R5 case is made of a thick silicone that protects the Apple TV remote from accidental drops. It also has a strap attached to it for extra security if you’re the clumsy type and a dedicated Siri button on its right side.

On the case’s inside, there’s a circular slot made specifically to house an AirTag. Simply drop the Bluetooth tracker in and secure the remote into the case to keep tabs on it.

Whenever you lose the remote, you can use your iPhone to trigger the AirTag’s sound to help locate it. And if you have an iPhone 11 or iPhone 12, you can also use the AirTag’s Precision Finding feature to locate the remote using a combination of haptic feedback, graphics, and sound.

There are, however, a few important things to note. For starters, the case is only compatible with the newest Siri Remote, and you’ll need to buy both the remote and AirTags separately.

Elago’s R5 case will set you back $15, while the Siri Remote costs $59 and a single AirTag costs $99. So, in total, the setup comes out to $173.

That’s a steep price if you don’t already own both of those Apple products. But for the sake of your sanity, it’s probably worth it.

It turns out that combining two 5G networks into one might have some benefits after all.

Ookla, master of internet speed measurement (which, we should note, is owned by Mashable parent company J2 Global), has just released its second quarter study of mobile 5G speeds and consistency for 2021 using its Speedtest platform.

Last time around, T-Mobile was sitting pretty atop the overall rankings, and going purely by median download speed (or the speed with which your network can retrieve information from a server), that standing hasn’t changed:

1. T-Mobile: 99.84 Mbps

2. Verizon: 78.33 Mbps

3. AT&T: 75.61 Mbps

T-Mobile being on top isn’t necessarily surprising. The so-called “uncarrier” absorbed Sprint’s 5G network in a blockbuster corporate merger in 2020 to build on top of the 5G infrastructure it had already built out prior to that. The fact that its median download speed is more than 20 megabits per second higher than second-place Verizon is wild, though. The same goes for its 69 percent 5G availability rating, which Ookla says measures “the percentage of users on 5G-capable devices that spend the majority of their time on 5G, both roaming and on-network.”

AT&T, for context, is in a distant second place at 38.4 percent.

The only 5G category that T-Mobile didn’t run away with was consistency, specifically the ability to deliver download speeds of at least 25 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps. Verizon just barely edged out T-Mobile with a 79.5 percent consistency score compared to T-Mobile’s 78.6 percent and AT&T’s 77.1 percent. Put simply, speed and availability differ greatly from provider to provider, but consistency is fairly solid across the board.

If you don’t like looking at numbers, just know that T-Mobile customers in the U.S. are generally having a better time with the gradual 5G rollout than their Verizon and AT&T brethren. That could also get flipped on its head by the end of the year because 5G is still in its relative infancy and everything is constantly changing. If you use T-Mobile, just enjoy the 5G supremacy while it lasts.

Researchers from NVIDIA and USC teamed up to make a simulation engine that could help autonomous robots with their cutting ability.

Adidas debuted a liquid billboard at a popular beach in Dubai — and it’s so big it could fit 3,319 Adidas shoe boxes.

You’ve probably heard about Apple’s latest line of computers, the first powered by the company’s own M1 chip.

Perhaps you’ve seen the news articles trying to explain why this is significant. You may have seen the positive reviews, heralding the new line released in November 2020 which includes Macbook Pros, Macbook Airs, and Mac Minis all powered by the M1. You’ve probably seen the latest addition to the M1 family, the new Apple iMacs which the company announced at its most recent event, too.

So are Apple’s new M1 computers with the hype? Emphatically, yes. Especially the Mac Mini.

The Mac Mini is made for livestreamers

I’ll be honest. If you were to tell me I’d end up buying an M1 in those first couple of months after they launched, I never would’ve believed you.

I understood that it was significant for Apple to ditch Intel and develop its own chip that powered its computers. And I read the reviews talking about what great machines the M1 computers are. Even still, I wasn’t sold. And I certainly wasn’t going to be the test dummy for the first generation of the brand new M1 chips.

Over the past couple of months, though, I’ve started to see the rave reviews coming in from consumers using the M1 Macs themselves. And most importantly, as someone who regularly livestreams, I heard the reviews from my fellow livestreamers, the types of users who would need to push these devices to their limits on a daily basis. And they were specifically doling out high praise to the new Mac Mini.

That’s when I went all-in and purchased the Mac Mini M1. After a few weeks of using it, I can now join the chorus of livestreamers praising it.

If you’re going live on YouTube, Twitch, or whatever your favorite platform is, the Mac Mini M1 is made for you. I doubt you will find a device this powerful, at this low of a price, that can seamlessly handle the very specific needs of livestreamers.

Putting it to the test

I put my new Mac Mini M1 through the wringer, or at least what my previous streaming computer — a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 Macbook Pro with 16GB RAM — would consider to be the wringer.

I have run hours-long livestreams through a livestreaming app called Ecamm Live, streaming to multiple different platforms at 1080p via a mirrorless Panasonic Lumix camera connected via an Elgato Cam Link. My previous streaming computer struggled to stream above 720p.

I’ve added a webcam as a second camera, recorded video and audio locally as separate media files while simultaneously streaming, streamed games via an Elgato HD60 S+ capture device, and added multiple live guests from different locations – all on the screen at the same time via Skype. My Mac Mini didn’t make a peep. My MacBook Pro’s internal fans would be audibly blasting on the stream at this point.

Having multiple web browser tabs open to monitor the streams and live comments as it multicast to multiple platforms via Restream while also sharing a tab to screenshare with my viewers? Forget about it with my previous setup. The live video would start moving in slow motion as it tried to keep up with everything. My Mac Mini M1 handles it without breaking a sweat.

Along with being able to handle everything I threw at it and still outputting a smooth livestream, the Mac Mini has remained cool the entire time.

And I mean that, too. Along with being able to handle everything I threw at it and still outputting a smooth livestream, the Mac Mini has remained cool the entire time. This makes for a quiet computer, which is important to a lot of livestreamers. I use a $250 dynamic mic from Shure for my livestream and you could still sometimes catch the annoying hum of my Macbook Pro fans in the background trying to cool down the computer while I was streaming. This is no longer an issue.

(Also worth noting: Broadband speeds from your internet service provider play a huge role here too. If your upload speeds are low, your stream quality will suffer. And many factors are at play too such as how many other people are using the service at the time. For that reason, I’d recommend an internet plan that provides at a minimum of 10mbps if you’re streaming in HD at 30fps. Higher quality video will require a plan with higher upload speeds.)

Which one is right for you?

The Mac Mini M1 base model, with 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM, starts at $699. I haven’t used the 8GB version and, while I’ve heard good things, I don’t think you should buy it if you’re a livestreamer shopping around for a new setup. I highly recommend you go one model up and purchase the 16GB Mac Mini M1 at $899.

Here’s why: Unified memory. The RAM isn’t sitting in a memory slot — it’s built into the M1 chip architecture itself. The plus is that the M1 computers are super fast. Many people who’ve gone with that 8GB base model Mac Mini M1 say it doesn’t run like any other computer they’ve used with only 8GB RAM.

However! The con here is that you can’t upgrade the memory in your computer at a later date. Remember, it’s built into the M1 architecture. So, if you went with 8GB Mac Mini and decided to go with 16GB later, you’d have to buy a whole new computer. For $200 extra bucks, I’d go with the Mac Mini M1 16GB model right off the bat and future proof your purchase so that it may handle all the latest apps and necessary livestreaming hardware for years to come.

The Mac Mini M1 with 16GB RAM will still be the most powerful computer you could buy at that price point. And, being that you’re going with the Mac Mini — a desktop computer — you don’t have to worry about internal storage. Just buy an external SSD to sit beside the computer on your desk. As a video creator, you know you shouldn’t be editing off the internal storage space anyway.

The cons of the M1

The M1 is brand new. Apple still hasn’t even rolled out the M1 in all of its current Mac lines yet. So, with anything new, there will be some cons.

For example, there may be third-party software and hardware you run into that doesn’t run on the Mac Mini M1 yet. One of the most popular third-party hardware makers for livestreamers is Elgato. The company makes a number of devices that help streamers use their DSLR cameras as webcams and enable users to record gameplay from video game consoles to their computers. The company has provided a list of its products that do not yet work with the M1. I had to buy the HD60 S+, a higher-priced model in its line of capture devices, in order to use it with the Mac Mini because the cheaper models were incompatible.

While I haven’t experienced any issues with OBS, the popular open-source software that most streamers use to go live, there have been M1 users who have voiced issues they’ve run into.

To test out streaming on my Mac Mini, I used Ecamm Live. The software is not only made for Mac, it’s also the first (and only, as of publication) livestream application built to run natively on M1 Macs. Basically, apps built to run on Intel processors can be used on M1 Macs through an emulator called Rosetta 2, which comes with the latest macOS: Big Sur. This actually has made some of those apps run faster on an M1 Mac than on an Intel-based computer. Still, though, it’s going through an extra process and can’t compare to what an app created for the M1 can do. And thanks to Ecamm Live’s new M1-native app, livestreaming on the Mac Mini is a great experience.

If you’re a PC gamer, you’ll still want to stick with PCs. We’re still dealing with the Mac ecosystem here. That means slim pickings when it comes to games that run on Macs. And if you’re thinking you can just load up Windows via Boot Camp, unfortunately, you can’t do that on Macs powered by Apple’s new M1 chip. Parallels, a virtual machine app that allows users to run Windows on Mac, just recently released a version compatible with M1. However, I have yet to try it and other than Parallels, I have not seen any other virtual machine options that work with M1 Macs.

However, you can still stream games that run on Mac as well as Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch games by utilizing game capture devices such as the previously mentioned Elgato HD60 S+.

Add to cart?

I’ve been livestreaming for years now. I worked at a live internet news show that utilized Mac Minis for streaming since the early 2010s. Mac Minis have always been popular in the space due to their price, power, and portability — even for a desktop computer. With that said, the Mac Mini M1 takes it to crazy new heights.

Livestreaming blew up during the pandemic as many people got into it as a hobby or even as a decent side income. The Mac Mini M1 gives those users the ability to run livestreams at the same level as setups that usually cost thousands and thousands of dollars but at an affordable price.

Save $110.99: This Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 14-inch 2-in-1 laptop is on sale for $249 at Walmart as of July 15.

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If you need a new laptop, you don’t always have to spring for a MacBook. Plenty of cheap laptops can handle a similar workload for a fraction of the cost — especially if you’re a student with basic computing needs.

The versatile and affordable Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 14-inch laptop is now just $429 at Walmart. That’s a $110.99 discount and 21% off the regular price. (Depending on your location, it may also qualify for free two-day shipping.)

This laptop includes the latest line of 11th Generation Intel Core i3-1115G4 dual-core processors. You’ll also get 4GB of RAM, a 128GB solid-state drive for internal storage, and Windows 10.

All of this powers the work you get to enjoy on a 14-inch FHD IPS touch display, which helps you enjoy the full benefits of this convertible laptop. Watch videos in its tent or stand modes, or turn it into a full tablet for more hands-on work.

If you prefer handwritten notes, you can get the Lenovo Active Pen separately for $30.37.

There are a lot of laptop choices during your back-to-school shopping, but a 2-in-1 Lenovo laptop at $429 deserves a spot at the top of your list. Choose between three colors: gray, platinum gray, and blue.

Explore related content:

• Sometimes a cheap laptop is all you need — these 8 are your best options

• 7 of the best Chromebooks out there right now

• Grab a refurbished Lenovo tablet for just $160

Teenagers in space! Well, one of them.

There’s a new passenger on the roster for the July 20 launch of billionaire Jeff Bezos’ first crewed spaceflight from his private space company Blue Origin. His name is Oliver Daemen, and he’s an 18-year-old aspiring pilot starting his education in physics and innovation management at the Netherlands’ University of Utrecht this fall.

Daemen will join Bezos; Bezos’s brother Mark; and legendary aviator Wally Funk, who balances out the age range at 82 years old for the first crewed ride aboard the New Shepard rocket, developed and operated by Blue Origin, the company announced Thursday. Mark and Funk were both asked to join the flight, which makes Daemen the first paying customer flying to space with Blue Origin.

At 18, Daemen will be the youngest person to ever travel to space. Alongside him, 82-year-old Funk will be the oldest, making the flight a doubly historic one.

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Daemen’s attendance on the first fully crewed Blue Origin spaceflight diverges from the company’s original plans. The fourth seat was supposed to go to a mysterious person who bought a $28 million ticket at auction, but that person had to delay to a future flight due to scheduling conflicts, Blue Origin said in its announcement. (We still do not know who the buyer is nor why they had to delay their spaceflight.)

Daemen’s ticket was purchased by his father, Joes Daemen, the CEO of private equity firm Somerset Capital Partners, CNBC reported. The fact underlines the divide between the wealthy and the rest of the world as the private space tourism industry gets off the ground.

Flying to space on a New Shepard rocket involves a vertical launch sending up to six passengers more than 62 miles up into the sky past the Kármán line, the widely recognized altitude where space begins. Near the top of the journey, the passenger cabin separates from the rocket booster. While passengers unbuckle and experience zero gravity with views that are literally out of this world, the reusable rocket lands itself carefully on the launchpad. After a few minutes, the cabin descends slowly back to Earth with the help of a parachute. The whole trip lasts about 11 minutes.

The New Shepard has performed 15 successful test flights thus far and received clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration to take people to space on Monday. July 20’s planned launch comes hot on the tail of Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed flight of its SpaceShipTwo spaceplane on Sunday, featuring billionaire founder Richard Branson.

Blue Origin has not announced when future spaceflights will commence for hopeful space tourists, including the $28 million auction winner.

Several Fire TV devices are on sale on Amazon as of July 15 — save up to 24%:

• OUR TOP PICK: Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote — $37.99 (save $12)

• BEST BUDGET PICK: Fire TV Stick Lite with Alexa Voice Remote LIte — $24.99 (save $5)

• BEST FOR HANDS-FREE STREAMING: Fire TV Cube — $99.99 (save $20)

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Emmys season? More like “catch up on all of the good TV shows you missed the first go-around” season. But with everything spread across different streaming platforms — you’ve got Ted Lasso on Apple TV+, WandaVision on Disney+, and Bridgerton on Netflix — it probably feels like you spend more time looking for shows than actually watching said shows.

Streaming media players like Amazon’s Fire TV devices are your saving grace in times like these — they make binge-watching a breeze by organizing all of your go-to channels and apps on one (recently revamped) interface, and also make it possible to access that content on older displays without internet connectivity. (Translation: No smart TV? No problem.)

As if by fate, Amazon just put three Fire TV devices on sale for up to 24% off. Here’s the scoop.

OUR TOP PICK: Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote

Amazon’s most powerful streaming stick supports Dolby Vision, HDR, and HDR 10+ and comes with an excellent Alexa Voice Remote with Bluetooth and infrared capabilities (i.e. you can use it to control the stick itself as well as your display and other connected devices). It’s both a Mashable’s Choice Award winner and the most popular item purchased during this year’s Prime Day sale. (NBD or anything!)

Grab it on sale for just $37.99, which is 24% off its usual retail price of $49.99.

BEST BUDGET PICK: Fire TV Stick Lite with Alexa Voice Remote LIte

Released last fall, Amazon’s most affordable TV-watching solution gets you 60fps and HDR support for sharp, smooth streaming, and includes a companion remote with full volume controls.

It normally sells for $29.99, but Amazon has it on sale right now for only $24.99 (or 17% off).

BEST FOR HANDS-FREE STREAMING: Fire TV Cube

Hate futzing around with remotes? The Fire TV Cube is a (you guessed it) cube-shaped streaming device with Dolby Vision and HDR, HDR10+ support that features a built-in Alexa smart speaker for hands-free voice commands. (Amazon throws in an Alexa Voice Remote in case you change your mind.)

Typically $119.99, it’s yours for just $99.99 — another 17% savings.

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Clubhouse’s leaked text messaging feature has finally officially arrived. Called Backchannel, the new messaging system allows users to talk to each other via the written word, just like in practically every other social media app that came before it. Tech is a circle.

The audio-based app announced its new feature in a blog post on Wednesday. Backchannel allows users to talk to each other through text outside Clubhouse’s audio rooms, as well as during them.

To start a Backchannel chat, simply tap the paper airplane icon on the bottom right of the app. From there, tap the pen and paper icon on the top right corner to search for the person you want to chat with. Alternatively, the icon also appears to the left of the follow button on users’ profiles. You can also swipe left in a Clubhouse room to access the Backchannel.

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While the app’s big selling point is that conversations are audible rather than written, having the ability to text other users will certainly make organising rooms a bit easier. Users can message their co-hosts to plan what to talk about next, as well as receive questions from the audience. Meanwhile, listeners can discuss the conversation with each other while it’s still happening, and without interrupting the hosts.

Backchannel’s supports both one on one conversations as well as bigger group chats of up to 15 members. Not just anybody can jump into a chat though — only the moderator can add or remove people (though you can voluntarily remove yourself at any time). You’ll also be warned if you’re added to a group that includes someone you’ve blocked, so you can promptly exit.

Anyone can message you by default, though messages from people you don’t follow are placed under a separate Requests tab. Fortunately you can change your settings so you only receive messages from the people you follow. You can also report chats as well as specific messages.

Backchannel is still missing a few features. It currently doesn’t support sending photos or videos, there are no message reactions, and you can’t start an audio Clubhouse room directly from Backchannel. You also can’t delete Backchannel chats, though the app plans to add this ability in the future.

Even so, Backchannel’s text message will certainly make coordinating a Clubhouse room a little bit easier — for all who are actually still using the app.

Remember when Ashton Kutcher bought a seat on a flight to space? Well, he sold his golden ticket.

During AT&T’s 5G event in New York City on Wednesday, Mashable sat down with the actor and tech investor. We asked him if he was booked on a flight to space and could bring anyone but his wife, who would he choose?

Kutcher reminded us he had already booked a flight to space. Back in 2012, billionaire Richard Branson said Kutcher snagged the 500th ticket for a flight on Virgin Galactic, which were originally selling for $200,000. But apparently Kutcher sold it.

“I was booked on a flight to go to space and, in fact, I’m quite rueful about the fact that I am not going to space,” Kutcher said, “My wife asked me to sell my ticket to space because she didn’t think that it was a smart family decision.”

According to Space.com, Virgin Galactic officials originally said they were hoping for takeoff in 2013 or 2014. The first fully crewed flight, however, just happened this week.

Among said crew was Virgin Galactic’s very own founder, billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who launched into space aboard SpaceShipTwo on Sunday and safely returned the same day.

A lot happened for Kutcher between 2012 (when he bought the ticket) and 2021. In 2015, he married actress Mila Kunis. They now have two children.

Considering a Virgin Galactic spacecraft crashed in October of 2014 — tragically killing a pilot — along with another failed test flight last year, it’s safe to say Kunis’ concerns were extremely valid. However, with Branson successfully returning from his Virgin Galactic ride and Elon Musk preparing for his own, it’s safe to assume Kutcher might be feeling a lil’ bit of FOMO.

Regardless, he remains hopeful.

“I’m no longer booked on a flight to space, [but] someday I’m going to space,” he said.